Shooting hawk moths, any advice?

[Dave McCormick]

Latley I have started seeing hawk moths about, but everyime I get anywhere near one, it darts of and no hope of getting a shot. Anyone have any advice for shooting hawkmoths when they are flying? I hardly ever see them at rest, so what should I do?

[Pete Eeles]

A 12-bore shotgun with plenty of scatter should do the trick

Ah - you mean photography!

Well - they are very difficult and your only hope is to catch them nectaring. But even then they'll be moving very rapidly around the flowerhead. I'j just stand back as far as you sensibly can (on the assumption that you'd crop the shot anyway), use a high shutter speed and, if necessary, flash.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gruditch]

For moving subjects set the AF to AI SERVO, and use continuous shooting.

Gruditch

[Dave McCormick]

A 12-bore shotgun with plenty of scatter should do the trick

Ah - you mean photography!

Haha yeah. Remindes me of the time I was at the game keeprs lodge here and I said I had shot a fox, should have seen peoples faces until I showed them the photo I had of it

For moving subjects set the AF to AI SERVO, and use continuous shooting.

Yeah thats a good idea. I might start with Silver-Y moths as they are plentiful here, if I can get one of those, I am onto something.

I think I know what I did wrong earlier. I was not far enough away and when I flicked the flash on and when it popped up, must have scared the hawk moth or something. Guess this is when a longer lens is always helpful.

[Dave McCormick]

Ok, first try at a Silver-Y, as they are appearing all over the red valerian near my house. I decided to use my Tamron 18-200mm IF Macro which for slight quality loss compared to my Sigma, its ok I think, plus for zoom its a plus to, but I think it has slight vignetting at full zoom.

I took this and cropped it and slight contrast/brightness edit on computer, but overall its not a bad shot. I think for larger insects, this lens is ok, but I would prefer my Sigma 105mm, but for things like this, I can do with slightquality loss, if it gets me a good shot.

Silver Y Feeding

F Stop = f/8
Exposure Time = 1/60sec
ISO-400
Exposure = -2 Step
Focal Length = 200mm
Metering = Center Weight Average
Flash Compulsery
Handheld

[Dave McCormick]

Getting photos of the over abundance of Silver Y moths today, I came to conclusion it was the camera shutter noise that was scaring the moths, they flinched only when I pressed shutter. Anyone else had same problem when photographing butterflies/moths?

[Rogerdodge]

Dave
I remember reading somewhere that butterflies have no sense of hearing (although they can feel vibration).
However, in the days of film, when we nearly all used flash with 64 ISO slide film, I noticed that some species would fly off when they "heard" the high pitched whine of a flash powering up.
I can't recall the sound of a shutter "frightening" them though.
Perhaps you could some experiments here for an interesting chapter in your book.

[Dave McCormick]

Hi Roger,

might actually put this in my book. I did notice something though.

The Silver Y moths I was photgraphing, only flinched when they were feeding, during day. At night I could photograph them with flash and they did not seem bothered much. I found they could be photographed when they were resting, I even managed to get really close to one and it did not fly away. It seems that its only when they are feeding during the day, are they jumpy to camera noises, even at a distance.

[Lee Hurrell]

Dave,

I would suggest it's movement as well as noise or vibration that's disturbing your insects. Even the motion of a finger over the shutter button is enough to spook some if you're close enough!

Cheers

Lee

[eccles]

Insects sense motion only when a compound eyelet detects it, that is, their motion sense is quite coarse. Also their attention span is short, and this is why you can often get incredibly close provided you move slowly enough. In my days using the Fuji bridge camera I would regularly take shots using the screen, holding the camera at arm's length and only 4" away from the subject. I once snapped a southern hawker dragonfly using the super-macro mode from 2" away. It had forgotten all about me, but flew off when a walker passed about four feet away. I doubt very much if a finger on a camera shutter button would register with any insect.
They do however sense sound/vibration but I believe they are attuned to certain frequencies. Moths are particularly sensitive to high pitched sounds as it's a defence mechanism to help avoid being eaten by bats, who use echo-location to hunt for prey.
I have two different DSLR models, one of which causes marbled whites to react when I press the shutter. Sometimes they will fly off, at the exact point of shutter release, other times they will flinch but stay put. The other model DSLR has a louder mirror/shutter noise but it is of a different frequency and doesn't bother MWs at all. But silver 'Y' moths don't like that one.

[Mikhail]

Like Eccles I have often noticed that Marbled Whites and other Satyrids seem to be particularly sensitive to noise, and over the years I have taken many photos of them on the point of take-off. It seems that it is mirror slap that spooks them. Some years ago it was suggested that the thickened veins at the base of the forewings in satyrids might have a hearing function. I don't know if this has been confirmed.

Misha

[Charles Nicol]

I managed to get my first hawkmoth shots this summer ( see my avatar !! ).

I found it much easier to photograph the bee hawkmoth than the hummingbird hawkmoth. it may be that the bh moves its wings more slowly

if you are lucky you can find hawkmoths having a rest before they start their high-speed nectaring:

this is a hummingbird hawkmoth taken about 8am.

Charles

[Dave McCormick]

I found it much easier to photograph the bee hawkmoth than the hummingbird hawkmoth. it may be that the bh moves its wings more slowly

I have found bee hawk moths feeding to be easier to photograph too, I have managed to get a shot of one once, even if it was bad. I have been told that hummingbird hawkmoths can fly up to 30 miles an hour

[Chris Pickford]

I've had the most luck wrt hawkmoths (HBH or BH) using manual focus and finding a sprig of eg lavender where they return, time and time again. eg:-

Having said that, I have had more than 30 hawk moths in my trap this year, and they are a lot easier to photograph when they are placidly sitting on a leaf!

Chris